Motion Guide - One Large Document.

This version of the Guide is made for inclusion in the Motion download package for off line reading.

************* Hope this helps someone.

The best way to find what any of the config options have changed to is to look in the conf.c file. I compiled with MySQL but wasn't able to use it until I found that the database options had been changed to

Also important to note that text_event has become event_time_stamp in the sql_query to fix this for myself I just changed the name of the field in my table.

*************

If you read this document from the distribution package of Motion or from some not up to date mirror you should know that the URL for the always up to date version is http://www.lavrsen.dk/foswiki/bin/view/Motion/MotionGuide. If you are already on the Foswiki based Motion site clicking the link just mentioned will lead you to the index page for the Motion Guide documents.

Motion Guide - Installation

What is Motion?

Motion is a program that monitors the video signal from one or more cameras and is able to detect if a significant part of the picture has changed. Or in other words, it can detect motion.

The program is written in C and is made for the Linux operating system.

Motion is a command line based tool. It has absolutely no graphical user interface. Everything is setup via a set of configuration files (simple text files that can be edited by any plain text editor).

Motion can output either image files of the picture frames containing motion or movie files showing the entire event. Motion can also invoke other programs when motion is detected.

How do I get Motion and what does it cost?

Motion is an open source type of project. It does not cost anything. Motion is published under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE (GPL) version 2 or later. It may be a bit difficult to understand all the details of the license text (especially if your first language is not English). It means that you can get the program, install it and use it freely. You do not have to pay anything and you do not have to register anywhere or ask the author or publisher for permission. The GPL gives you both rights and some very reasonable duties when it comes to copying, distribution and modification of the program. So in very general terms you do not have to worry about licensing as a normal hobby user. If you want to use Motion in a commercial product, if you want to distribute either modified or original versions of Motion - for free or for a fee, you should read the license carefully. For more information about free software and the GPL, you are encouraged to study the very interesting documents about the subject available the of the Free Software Foundation pages about the Philosophy of the GNU Project.

Maintenance and Support

Both Motion and the Motion Guide are written by people that do all this as a hobby and without asking for any payments or donations. We have a life other than developing Motion and its documentation. This means that bug-fixes and updates to this guide are done as our time and families allow it. You are however encouraged to participate and contribute in a very active mailing list. It is a list with a very "positive attitude" and with many contributors that propose features, post patches, discuss problems and patiently answer newbie questions with a very positive spirit

To get motion you have different options. To get the latest and greatest version you can direct your browser to the Motion project on Github and download the latest sources.

For many major Linux distributions you will also be able to find Motion in the software repositories.

On the Download Files page you will find a links to the latest stable version both as sources and binaries for some of the most popular Linux distributions

Motion was originally written by Jeroen Vreeken. He was succeded by Folkert van Heusden, and from version 3.1.12, Motion was managed by Kenneth Lavrsen. The actual programming was done by a large group of contributors. From 2016 Kenneth Lavrsen handed over the program ownership and maintenance to Mr. Dave.

For support we encourage you to join the mailing list instead of writing to the project developers. We are all very active on the mailing list and by using the mailing list much more users will have benefit of the answers. Newbies and stupid questions are welcome on the list. Contributions in the form of patches are also very welcome on the mailing list. If you are on Github you are also welcome to submit pull requests.

Which version to download and use?

As of August 2016 the recommended version of Motion version is the latest develop code from Motion project on Github. There is currently a pre-release of version 3.4.1 available on Github release 3.4.1 and soon a release 4.0.0 will be released to mark that the project has fresh resources and a new Github repository.

Soon the versions of Motion will hit the repositories of various distributions.

What features does Motion have?

The list is long but the main features are

Taking inputs from multiple video devices at the same time incl network cameras

Saving pictures when the video signal from a camera contains motion

Create movie files containing the event in which the motion occurred

Execute external program when detecting movement

Execute external program at the beginning of an event of several motion detections.

Execute external program at the end of an event of several motion detections.

High configurable definition of path and file names of the stored images and films.

Other operating systems than Linux

Motion can be compiled on other operating systems than Linux but not all features will be supported. Motion has been compiled on FreeBSD and MacOS. These platforms however have had only limited testing.

The default motion.conf file (motion-dist.conf) that comes with the package.

Supported Hardware

Input devices: Here we are thinking about the cameras.

Motion supports video input from two kinds of sources.

Standard video4linux devices (e.g. /dev/video0) and network cameras. Motion has no drivers for cameras. Installing or configuring the camera itself is outside the scope of this document. Generally, if the device works with other common video player software, it will work with Motion (and vice versa). As a result, it is often convenient to first get the device working with other software and then use those connection options with Motion.

If you use use a Logitech Quickcam Orbit or Sphere using the driver pwc/pwcx and kernel 2.6.X you should replace the file in the Motion sources called pwc-ioctl.h with the one that comes with the your pwc version. Motion is shipped with 3 versions of pwc-ioctl.h-VERSION. Rename the one that fits your major pwc version number best to pwc-ioctl.h (after renaming the current to something else). There has been some small adjustments in the API that requires that you have the right header file.

Motion is mainly distributed as source files that you must compile yourself. There is also an RPM made on Fedora Core 3. And Debian packages are available for selected versions.

The short overview of the steps to install Motion from sources.

Preparation: Motion uses a number of shared libraries that must be installed on your computer before you can build Motion. The needed shared libraries depends on the features you wish to use. Features network camera, ffmpeg, MySQL and PostgreSQL needs specific shared libraries installed. See preparation section for more information.

Download the motion source files (distributed as tar'ed and compressed files). Place the file in a place of your own choice.

Untar and uncompress the file to the place you want the program installed. Editor recommends placing the motion source file directory in /usr/local. If you do not have write access to the /usr/local directory (you are under the mercy of an ignorant system administrator with a severe case of paranoia) - you can install the program in a directory in your home directory. You will then need to read the next section about how to configure before you compile the program. Below is shown the exact commands using version 3.2.X installed in /usr/local as an example (replace /path/to and version number with the actual placement of the tar.gz file).

cd /usr/local
tar -xvzf /path/to/motion-3.2.X.tar.gz

You will now have created a directory called motion-3.2.X. You can rename it to motion (mv motion-3.1.X motion). I recommend creating a symbolic link to the current version. This way you can more easily experiment with different version simply by changing the link.

ln -s motion-3.2.X motion

Now change to the new directory.

cd motion

Run configure. You can start with the defaults. If you need to modify the installation parameters you can read the next section.

./configure

Build the code

make

Install the code, manual page, etc

make install

In /etc/motion/etc you will find a file called motion-dist.conf. If it is the first time you install Motion - rename this file to motion.conf and edit as a minimum the settings: videodevice, input, norm, frequency, width, height and target_dir. That should get you going.

Run the program. To enable more features you must modify the config file.

motion

Installation on Debian based distributions

Motion can be found in the repositories of several debian based distributions such as Ubuntu etc.

Open up a terminal window and type:

sudo apt-get install motion

The debian packages install the Motion config file in /etc/motion/motion.conf which is the correct location when Motion runs as a daeson under a system user. If you want to run Motion under your own username you need to copy the config file to our Home folder so that the master copy won’t be affected. Open a terminal and copy the configuration file to your Home folder with following commands:

mkdir .motion

(Note: This will create a hidden folder .motion in your Home directory.)

sudo cp /etc/motion/motion.conf ~/.motion/motion.conf

(Note: This command will copy the original motion configuration file to its location.)

Now can open the configuration file for editing. Change directory to the location of the motion.conf and run

sudo nano motion.conf

After you you have done so, start motion in the terminal simply by typing:

Note: If you're using SuSE 9.2, you might want to ADDITIONALLY have a look at Compiling on SuSE 9.2. As mentioned on that page as well, you will still need to read the instructions here as well.

Before you start you may need to install a number of shared libraries that Motion uses. If they are missing the feature will simply normally not be included. Most of these libraries can be found on the CDs of your distribution. A few will have to be downloaded from the Internet. Note that when you install software using pre-compiled binaries (Redhat type RPMs, Debian debs etc) you normally only get what is needed to run the programs themselves. In order to compile other programs from source that uses these pre-compiled libraries you also need to installed the development packages. These are normally called the same name as the package suffixed by -devel or -dev. These development packages contains the header files (xxx.h) that Motion needs to build with the shared libraries. If you build a library from sources you already have these header files. It is recommended to simply install the pre-compiled binary packages and their development brothers.

This is a list of shared libraries used by Motion and the RPM packages that provides them.

For generating mpeg films with ffmpeg you need this library:
(See also the section Generating MPEG films with ffmpeg for how to install ffmpeg and libavformat/libavcodec)Motion must be installed with revision 0.4.8 or 0.4.9pre1 of ffmpeg. Motion will also work with later CVS snapshots of ffmpeg but the API of the ffmpeg libraries changes all the time and without warning. If you have problems compiling Motion or with running an RPM of Motion you may try with an older CVS snapshot of ffmpeg. The Motion developers will like to know when ffmpeg changes and breaks Motion so we can fix it. Please file a bug report then with the exact date of the ffmpeg CVS version you have trouble with.

Debian has not provided deb packages for ffmpeg due patent issues. However this is about to change so checkout for availability of newer versions of debian ffmpeg debs. You can build yourself from source or from Christian Marillat website or apt repository.

Configure is script that you run to setup the build environment for the C-compiler. It generates the "Makefile" which the program "make" uses to compile and install the software.

To run configure your current directory must be the motion directory. You type

./configure

You can add the parameter ./configure --help to get help on the different switches.

This is walk through of the options.

Option

Description Defaults for the options are specified in brackets [ ]

Editors comment

-h, --help

display this help and exit

--help=short

display options specific to this package

This command shows the options special to motion. Recommended

--help=recursive

display the short help of all the included packages

-V, --version

display version information and exit

Gives no useful information

-q, --quiet, --silent

do not print `checking...' messages

Not very useful. Output to screen is only a few lines anyway.

--cache-file=FILE

cache test results in FILE. [disabled]

No function

-C, --config-cach

alias for `--cache-file=config.cache'

No function

-n, --no-create

do not create output files

Used for testing if other switches produce error - without writing anything to the disk

--srcdir=DIR

find the sources in DIR. [configure dir or `..']

DIR is a directory path. Editor recommends having the current directory being the motion installation directory and not using this switch. Then it defaults to the same directory as where the configure script is which is the current directory.

Installation directories:

--prefix=PREFIX

install architecture-independent files in PREFIX [/usr/local]

The default /usr/local means that the executable binary "motion" is installed in /usr/local/bin, the manual page in /usr/local/man/man1, the document files in /usr/local/docs/motion-version, configuration file in /usr/local/etc, and some examples config files in /usr/local/examples/motion-versionEditor recommends keeping this default setting. If you are experimenting with many parallel versions it may be interesting to set the PREFIX to e.g. /usr/local/motion and then add /usr/local/motion/bin to your search path (or simply cd /usr/local/motion/bin before execution). This way you can change version just by changing the symbolic link in /usr/local/motion as suggested earlier in this guide. If you are installing the software on a machine where you have no access to the /usr/local but have write access to a home directory, then you should change this to point to a directory within your home tree. Example: --prefix=$HOME

--exec-prefix=EPREFIX

install architecture-dependent files in EPREFIX [PREFIX]

If you set this it only defines an alternative installation directory for the executable binary. Note: The executable binary will be placed in a directory "bin" below the directory specified by this option Editor recommends leaving this as default (i.e. not setting it).

--bindir=DIR

user executables [EPREFIX/bin]

With this option you can control exactly in which directory the executable binary is installed. The previous option automatically adds the bin directory. Here you are in fill control.

--sbindir=DIR

System admin executables [EPREFIX/sbin]

Not used by motion. Ignore it.

--libexecdir=DIR

program executables [EPREFIX/libexec]

Not used by motion. Ignore it.

--datadir=DIR

read-only architecture-independent data [PREFIX/share]

Not used by motion. Ignore it.

--sysconfdir=DIR

read-only single-machine data [PREFIX/etc]

This is where motion both installs the default configuration file and also where it later searches for it. Motion searches for the configuration file "motion.conf" in the following order:

1. Current directory from where motion was invoked 2. $HOME/.motion 3. The sysconfig directory set by this switch. If not defined the default is /usr/local/etc/

Editor recommends leaving this at default. Be careful if you run "make install" again. This will overwrite the motion.conf file that you have edited and experimented with for hours. Make sure to keep a copy in a safe place. Alternatively, copy the working file to the motion base install directory. Then make install will simply copy the same file back again.

Exclude to use bktr subsystem , that usually useful for devices as network cameras

ONLY used in *BSD

--without-v4l

Exclude using v4l (video4linux) subsystem. Makes Motion so it only supports network cameras.

Can be used if you do not need V4L support and maybe lack some of the libraries for it.

--with-jpeg-mmx=DIR

Specify the prefix for the install path for jpeg-mmx for optimized jpeg handling (optional). If this is not specified motion will try to find the library /usr/lib/libjpeg-mmx.a /usr/local/lib/libjpeg-mmx.a.

Considered experimental

--with-ffmpeg=DIR

Specify the path for the directory prefix in which the library and headers are installed. If not specified configure will search in /usr/ and /usr/local/

DIR is the directory PREFIX in which the ffmpeg shared libraries and their headers are installed. If you install ffmpeg from sources and use the default directories or if ffmpeg is installed as a binary package (RPM or deb) you do not need to specify the directory prefix. Configure will find the libraries automatically. If you installed ffmpeg from sources and specified a different --prefix when building ffmpeg you must use the same value for the DIR ( --with-ffmpeg=DIR). For more information on FFmpeg see the FFmpeg project home page. FFmpeg is a package that enables streamed video mpeg signal from your web camera to a browser. Editor recommends installing ffmpeg from source and in the directory /usr/local/ffmpeg and build ffmpeg with ./configure --enable-shared. This places libraries in /usr/local/lib and headers in /usr/local/include.

--without-ffmpeg

Do not compile with ffmpeg

Use this if you do not want to compile with ffmpeg. If ffmpeg is not installed you do not need to specify that Motion must build without ffmpeg.

--with-mysql-lib=DIR

Lib directory of MySQL

Normally, configure will scan all possible default installation paths for MySQL libs. When its fail, use this command to tell configure where MySQL libs installation root directory is.

--with-mysql-include=DIR

Include directory with headers for MySQL

Normally, configure will scan all possible default installation paths for MySQL include. When its fail, use this command to tell configure where MySQL include installation directory is. This is the directory with the MySQL header files.

--without-mysql

Do not compile with MySQL support

Use this if you do not want to include MySQL support in the package. This can also be useful if you get compilation errors related to MySQL and you actually do not need the feature anyway.

--without-pgsql

Do not compile with PostgreSQL support

Use this if you do not want to include PostgreSQL support in the package. This can also be useful if you get compilation errors related to PostgreSQL and you actually do not need the feature anyway.

--with-pgsql-include=DIR

Normally, configure will scan all possible default installation paths for pgsql include. When it fails, use this command to tell configure where pgsql include installation root directory is.

--with-pgsql-lib=DIR

Normally, configure will scan all possible default installation paths for pgsql libs. When it fails, use this command to tell configure where pgsql libs installation root directory is.

--without-optimizecpu

Exclude autodetecting platform and cpu type. This will disable the compilation of gcc optimizing code by platform and cpu.

Use this if the optimization causes problems. Typically if you build on some non X386 compatible CPU.

Developers options

--with-developer-flags

Add additional warning flags for the compiler.

This option is for developers only. It produces a flood of warnings that helps the developer to write more robust code. These warnings are normally harmless but can sometimes be a latent defect. For more information about these flags, see CompileWithDeveloperFlags

When you run make, all the C-source files are automatically compiled and linked. Just look out for error messages.

Make uses a file called "Makefile" which is generated by the "configure" script you just ran. If you have special needs you can manually edit this file. Next time you run configure a new Makefile will be generated and your changes are lost.

Attention!

If you have run make before, you should run a make clean before running make again. This cleans out all the object files that were generated the previous time you ran make. If you do not run make clean first before you rebuild Motion you may not get the additional feature included. For example: If you built Motion without ffmpeg support and then add it later - and rebuild Motion without running make clean first - the ffmpeg feature does not get compiled into the Motion binary.

First time you build motion run ./configure, make, make install. If you need to build it again (to run with different configure options) run ./configure, make clean, make, make install.

Make Install

make install simply copies all the nice files that were generated during the compilation/linking that make did.

Makes the directories (if they do not already exist)(path shown are the defaults): /usr/local/bin, usr/local/man/man1, /usr/local/etc, /usr/local/share/doc/motion-3.2.X, and /usr/local/share/doc/examples/motion-3.2.X.

Copies the following files from the base motion directory (assuming the default PREFIX /usr/local was used when running configure - otherwise adjust to the actuals you chose)

Note that the any existing files are overwritten. The default config file motion-dist.conf is named like this so that you do not get your working motion.conf file overwritten when you upgrade Motion.

Un-install

From the motion base installation directory you simply run make uninstall

And delete the base installation directory in /usr/local and any link pointing to it. If you have forgotten where you installed it or someone else did it for you, simply search for the files and directories starting with motion. If the filenames and the directories match the names described in the "Make Install" section of this document, you can safely delete them.

Additional Make Options

The make command can be run with several options. make, make install and make uninstall has already been described above.

make clean

deletes all the binary files (object files) and the motion binary generated by make. It also deletes temporary files and any jpg files that motion has saved in the motion source directory. It is very important to always run make clean before you run make if you change the configuration (like adding features such as ffmpeg) and rebuild motion.

If you are upgrading from motion 3.0.X or from an older version of 3.1.X you should note that many options have been removed from version 3.1.13 and forward and many new have arrived. You still have most of the old features. The options have been changed for two reasons. New more flexible features and to simplify getting started with Motion. With 3.2.1 the changes are significant. You should also note these major differences.

The use of thread files has completely changed. Read the section "The Config Files" carefully.

Minimum_motion_frames feature prevents short noise events from being saved (3.1.14)

If you use the database features you need to note that from version 3.1.15 and forward the fields have been redefined. Removed are second, minute, hour, day, month and year. Instead these six have been replaced by a real timestamp field called time_stamp. The relatively new field 'type' has been renamed to 'file_type' to avoid reserved SQL words. A new field 'text_left' has been added which stores the text given by the config option text_left. And last a field called 'camera' has been added which stores the thread number.

From 3.1.15 the ffmpeg feature now also supports mpeg4 and msmpeg4. The build process of Motion now use ffmpeg libraries as shared libraries. The --with-libavcodec has been replaced by a --with-ffmpeg which only needed to specify if you are installing ffmpeg from sources in a non-standard location. If you have installed ffmpeg from sources already you will need to rebuild by running (from within the ffmpeg source file root) ./configure --enable-shared followed by make and make install. If you had installed ffmpeg from a binary RPM or deb you probably don't have to do anything.

Rotate feature was introduced in 3.1.15

Berkeley mpeg feature has been removed in 3.1.18 (use ffmpeg - it is much better)

Incomplete prediction feature was removed in 3.1.18. (lack of interest in finishing it)

Smart Mask feature introduced in 3.1.18

output_normal can now also have the value "first" which means only save first jpg from each event (3.1.18)

ffmpeg-0.4.9 is now supported. Motion detection mpegs can no longer be saved as mpeg1 (ffmpeg does not support non-standard framerates in 0.4.9) (3.1.18)

Motion now supports most (not all) mjpeg streaming cameras (3.1.18).

output_normal can now have values "first" or "best". It is used when you need to present a link to an mpeg movie shown as a single jpeg image. "First" saves the first picture frame in the new event. "Best" saves the picture frame with most motion content (most changed pixels) when the event is over. "on" still saves all motion detection picture frames plus pre and post captured images. With "best" you can set jpeg_filename = "preview" and it gets the same filename as the mpeg file but with extension .jpg. Option "locate" can also take the value "preview" which makes it only draw a rectangel on the jpeg but not on the mpeg movie. (3.2.1)

The xmlrpc remote control interface is replaced by a much nicer http remote control interface. (3.2.1)

All the options that calls external programs have been made much more generic. New onxxxx options have been added. Execute, sms and mail have been replaced by the generic on_event_start. (3.2.1)

New setup mode makes setting all the detection options much easier.

netcam now also supports proxies (3.2.2) and ftp (3.2.4)

text on the pictures can be set to double size (3.2.2)

Tracking with Logitech Sphere/Orbit improved (3.2.4)

SQL database feature is now fully configurable so you can control which fields you have in the database.

Many new conversion specifiers have been added which can be used both in filenames, commands, text, and SQL database features (3.2.2-3.2.4)

Stepper motor tracking feature extended to also include a Y axis (3.2.5)

ffmpeg_filename has been renamed to movie_filename to prepare for alternative implementation to mpeg files made with ffmpeg (3.2.5)

New feature: ffmpeg_deinterlace which can de-interlace using the ffmpeg libs (3.2.5)

New feature: minimum_frame_time which enables Motion to run at frame rates below 2. minimum_gap feature was removed since this was useless and the new minimum_frame_time feature replaces it with much better function. (3.2.7)

New feature: process_id_file which writes a PID file when started and removes it when stopped (3.2.7)

V4L2 support with many new supported palettes : V4L2_PIX_FMT_SBGGR8, V4L2_PIX_FMT_SN9C10X, V4L2_PIX_FMT_JPEG, V4L2_PIX_FMT_UYVY (3.2.8)

The table below shows the new options in the left column, and obsolete options in the right column. If the there are options on both sides in a row it means that the options in the left column replaced the options in the right column.

Important Definitions

Motion is invoked from the command line. It has no GUI. Everything is controlled from config files. From version 3.2 the command line is only used to define location of config file and a few special runtime modes (setup and non-daemon).

A few important definitions.

A snapshot is a picture taken at regular intervals independently of any movement in the picture.

A "motion" image/mpeg shows the pixels that have actually changed during the last frames. These pictures are not very useful for normal presentation to the public but they are quite useful for testing and tuning and making mask files as you can see exactly where motion sees something moving. Motion is shown in greytones. If labelling is enabled the largest area is marked as blue. Smart mask is shown in red.

A "normal" image is the real image taken by the camera with text overlayed.

The Config Files

If Motion was invoked with command line option -c pathname Motion will expect the config file to be as specified. When you specify the config file on the command line with -c you can call it anything.

If you do not specify -c or the filename you give Motion does not exist, Motion will search for the configuration file called 'motion.conf' in the following order:

Current directory from where motion was invoked

Then in a directory called '.motion' in the current users home directory (shell environment variable $HOME). E.g. /home/goofy/.motion/motion.conf

The directory defined by the --sysconfdir=DIR when running .configure during installation of Motion(If this option was not defined the default is /usr/local/etc/)

If you have write access to /usr/local/etc then the editor recommends having only one motion.conf file in the default /usr/local/etc/ directory.

Motion has a configuration file in the distribution package called motion-dist.conf. When you run 'make install' this file gets copied to the /usr/local/etc directory.

The configuration file needs to be renamed from motion-dist.conf to motion.conf. The original file is called motion-dist.conf so that your perfectly working motion.conf file does not accidentally get overwritten when you re-install or upgrade to a newer version of Motion.

If you have more than one camera you should not try and invoke Motion more times. Motion is made to work with more than one camera in a very elegant way and the way to do it is to create a number of thread config files. Motion will then create an extra thread of itself for each camera. If you only have one camera you only need the motion.conf file. The minute you have two or more cameras you must have one thread config file per camera besides the motion.conf file.

So if you have for example two cameras you need motion.conf and two thread config files. Total of 3 config files.

An option that is common to all cameras can be placed in motion.conf. (You can also put all parameters in the thread files but that makes a lot of editing when you change a common thing).

An option that is unique to a camera must be defined in each thread file.

It is often seen that people copy the entire motion.conf into the thread config files and change a few options. This works but it not recommended because it is more difficult to maintain and overview. Keep all the common options in motion.conf and the few unique only in the thread config files

The first camera is defined in the first thread file called from motion.conf. The 2nd camera is defined in the 2nd thread file called from motion.conf etc.

Any option defined in motion.conf will be used for all cameras except for the cameras in which the same option is defined in a thread config file.

To make it clear, the thread files format and syntax is the same as motion.conf. An example of what you might want in a thread file as follows: assume you have two cameras, attached to one system. Create files thread0.conf and thread1.conf. At the end of motion.conf, uncomment out the lines that refer to them. The full contents of the thread files can be as simple as

thread0.conf: videodevice /dev/video0 stream_port 8081

thread1.conf: videodevice /dev/video1 stream_port 8082

Motion reads its configuration parameters in the following sequence. If the same parameter exists more than one place the last one read wins.

Motion reads the configuration file motion.conf from the beginning of the file going down line by line.

If the option "thread" is defined in motion.conf, the thread configuration file(s) is/(are) read.

Motion continues reading the rest of the motion.conf file. Any options from here will overrule the same option previously defines in a thread config file.

Motion reads the command line option again overruling any previously defined options.

So always call the thread config files in the end of the motion.conf file. If you define options in motion.conf AFTER the thread file calls, the same options in the thread files will never be used. So always put the thread file call at the end of motion.conf.

If motion is built without specific features such as ffmpeg, mysql etc it will ignore the options that belongs to these features. You do not have to remove them or comment them out.

If you run the http control command http://host:port/0/config/writeyes, motion will overwrite motion.conf and all the thread.conf files by autogenerated config files neatly formatted and only with the features included that Motion was built with. If you later re-build Motion with more features or upgrade to a new version, you can use your old config files, run the motion.conf.write command, and you will have new config files with the new options included all set to their default values. This makes upgrading very easy to do.

In Motion 3.2.1 and forward most command line options have been removed and replaced them by an option to specify location to motion.conf and a few options related to setting up motion. There are now only few command line options left and they are basically all new.

Instead of running Motion in the background Motion runs in the terminal window writing messages when things happen. If you have problems getting Motion to start or work, run Motion in this mode to get more messages that can help you solve the problem.

-s

Run in setup mode.

Also forces non-daemon mode

-c config file path

Full path and filename of config file.

E.g. /home/kurt/motion.conf. Default is /usr/local/etc unless specified differently when building Motion. Many RPMs and debian packages will most likely use /etc or /etc/motion as default

-h

Show help screen.

-d level

Debugging mode

This mode is used for developers to enable debug messages. Normal users will not need to use this mode unless a developer request to get additional information in the attempt to resolve a bug. Mainly the netcam code has debugging features. The level defines how much debugging info you get. A high number displays all debugging.

-p process_id_file

Full path of process ID file

Full path and filename of process id file (PID file). This is optional. If none is given as command line option or in motion.conf (process_id_file) Motion will not create a PID file.

Version 4.0.1:

The configuration options that are applicable to 4.0.1 can be viewed on-line alphabetically or by topic. This file is also installed with Motion in the /usr/share/doc/motion directory for offline viewing.

Version 3.2.12:

The options below are based upon the 3.2.12 with some updates for the pre-release 3.4

These are the options that can be used in the config file.

All number values are integer numbers (no decimals allowed). Boolean options can be on or off.

Database related options are only available if Motion was built with the required database libraries (MySQL/Postgresql)

Options in Alphabetical Order.

The table below lists all the Motion options in alphabetical order. Click on the option name to see a longer description of each.

Detect motion center in predefined areas. A script (on_area_detected) is started immediately when motion center is detected in one of the given areas, but only once during an event even if there is motion in a different configured area. Take care: This option does NOT restrict detection to these areas!, Detect motion center in predefined areas. A script (on_area_detected) is started immediately when motion center is detected in one of the given areas, but only once during an event even if there is motion in a different configured area. Take care: This option does NOT restrict detection to these areas!

Let motion regulate the brightness of a video device. Only recommended for cameras without auto brightness, Let motion regulate the brightness of a video device. Only recommended for cameras without auto brightness

The contrast level for the video device. Disabled (Value 0) means that Motion does not set the contrast value., The contrast level for the video device. Disabled (Value 0) means that Motion does not set the contrast value.

Start in daemon (background) mode and release terminal. This option must be placed in motion.conf and not in a thread config file., Start in daemon (background) mode and release terminal. This option must be placed in motion.conf and not in a thread config file.

Database wait time in milliseconds for locked database to be unlocked before returning database locked error (default 0). If the database is busy when the request is issued, this parameter indicates the time to wait before issuing a timeout message, Database wait time in milliseconds for locked database to be unlocked before returning database locked error (default 0). If the database is busy when the request is issued, this parameter indicates the time to wait before issuing a timeout message

IP address or domain name for the database server. Use "localhost" if motion and the database runs on the same server., IP address or domain name for the database server. Use "localhost" if motion and the database runs on the same server.

Despeckle motion image using combinations of (E/e)rode or (D/d)ilate. And ending with optional (l)abeling., Despeckle motion image using combinations of (E/e)rode or (D/d)ilate. And ending with optional (l)abeling.

event_gap is the seconds of no motion detection that triggers the end of an event. An event is defined as a series of motion images taken within a short time-frame., event_gap is the seconds of no motion detection that triggers the end of an event. An event is defined as a series of motion images taken within a short time-frame.

Use this option to specify the text to include in a JPEG EXIF comment The EXIF timestamp is included independent of this text. , Use this option to specify the text to include in a JPEG EXIF comment The EXIF timestamp is included independent of this text.

When creating videos, this feature will duplicate frames in order to keep up with the requested frames per second., When creating videos, this feature will duplicate frames in order to keep up with the requested frames per second.

Create a timelapse movie saving a picture frame at the interval in seconds set by this parameter. Set it to 0 if not used., Create a timelapse movie saving a picture frame at the interval in seconds set by this parameter. Set it to 0 if not used.

Codec to be used by ffmpeg for the video compression. Timelapse will only work with the options mpeg4 or swf., Codec to be used by ffmpeg for the video compression. Timelapse will only work with the options mpeg4 or swf.

Input channel to use expressed as an integer number starting from 0. Should normally be set to 0 or 1 for video/TV cards, and -1 (disabled) for USB and network cameras., Input channel to use expressed as an integer number starting from 0. Should normally be set to 0 or 1 for video/TV cards, and -1 (disabled) for USB and network cameras.

Ignore sudden massive light intensity changes given as a percentage of the picture area that changed intensity., Ignore sudden massive light intensity changes given as a percentage of the picture area that changed intensity.

Locate and draw a box around the moving object. Value 'preview' makes Motion only draw a box on a saved preview jpeg image and not on the saved mpeg movie. , Locate and draw a box around the moving object. Value 'preview' makes Motion only draw a box on a saved preview jpeg image and not on the saved mpeg movie.

This option specifies the level of verbosity of the messages sent from Motion. At a level of 8(DBG), there are a LOT of messages. At a level of 1(EMR) virtually no messages will be output.

The various levels are [1..9] (EMR, ALR, CRT, ERR, WRN, NTC, INF, DBG, ALL)., This option specifies the level of verbosity of the messages sent from Motion. At a level of 8(DBG), there are a LOT of messages. At a level of 1(EMR) virtually no messages will be output.

The different components of Motion use different log types. This option allows the user to only show the messages from particular components., The different components of Motion use different log types. This option allows the user to only show the messages from particular components.

Use this option to specify the full path and filename to use for logging of the messages generated from Motion. If this option is not defined, the stderr and syslog is used. Note that Motion can generate a LOT of messages and as a result, this option should be considered if the log_level is at any of the higher levels., Use this option to specify the full path and filename to use for logging of the messages generated from Motion. If this option is not defined, the stderr and syslog is used. Note that Motion can generate a LOT of messages and as a result, this option should be considered if the log_level is at any of the higher levels.

PGM file to use as a sensitivity mask. This picture MUST have the same width and height as the frames being captured and be in binary format. , PGM file to use as a sensitivity mask. This picture MUST have the same width and height as the frames being captured and be in binary format.

Minimum time in seconds between the capturing picture frames from the camera. Default: 0 = disabled - the capture rate is given by the camera framerate., Minimum time in seconds between the capturing picture frames from the camera. Default: 0 = disabled - the capture rate is given by the camera framerate.

Picture frames must contain motion at least the specified number of frames in a row before they are detected as true motion. At the default of 1, all motion is detected. Valid range is 1 to thousands, but it is recommended to keep it within 1-5., Picture frames must contain motion at least the specified number of frames in a row before they are detected as true motion. At the default of 1, all motion is detected. Valid range is 1 to thousands, but it is recommended to keep it within 1-5.

The video4linux video loopback input device for motion images. If a particular pipe is to be used then use the device filename of this pipe, if a dash '-' is given motion will use /proc/video/vloopback/vloopbacks to locate a free pipe. Default: not set, The video4linux video loopback input device for motion images. If a particular pipe is to be used then use the device filename of this pipe, if a dash '-' is given motion will use /proc/video/vloopback/vloopbacks to locate a free pipe. Default: not set

URL to use if you are using a network camera (incl http:// ftp:// mjpg:// rtsp:// mjpeg:// or file:///). Size will be autodetected Must be a URL that returns single jpeg pictures or a raw mjpeg stream. A trailing slash may be required for some cameras., URL to use if you are using a network camera (incl http:// ftp:// mjpg:// rtsp:// mjpeg:// or file:///). Size will be autodetected Must be a URL that returns single jpeg pictures or a raw mjpeg stream. A trailing slash may be required for some cameras.

The Username and password for the network camera. For http protocols, this option is for HTTP 1.1 Basic authentication. The string is specified as username:password. Do not specify this option for no authentication. To use no authentication simply remove this option. Note that only basic authentication is supported for connection to netwwork cameras. Digest authentication is not currently available , The Username and password for the network camera. For http protocols, this option is for HTTP 1.1 Basic authentication. The string is specified as username:password. Do not specify this option for no authentication. To use no authentication simply remove this option. Note that only basic authentication is supported for connection to netwwork cameras. Digest authentication is not currently available

Command to be executed when a camera can't be opened or if it is lost. You can use Conversion Specifiers and spaces as part of the command. Use %f for passing filename (with full path) to the command. (new in 3.2.10), Command to be executed when a camera can't be opened or if it is lost. You can use Conversion Specifiers and spaces as part of the command. Use %f for passing filename (with full path) to the command. (new in 3.2.10)

Command to be executed when an event ends after a period of no motion. The period of no motion is defined by option gap. You can use Conversion Specifiers and spaces as part of the command., Command to be executed when an event ends after a period of no motion. The period of no motion is defined by option gap. You can use Conversion Specifiers and spaces as part of the command.

Command to be executed when an event starts. An event starts at first motion detected after a period of no motion defined by gap. You can use ConversionSpecifiers and spaces as part of the command., Command to be executed when an event starts. An event starts at first motion detected after a period of no motion defined by gap. You can use ConversionSpecifiers and spaces as part of the command.

Command to be executed when a motion frame is detected. You can use Conversion Specifiers and spaces as part of the command., Command to be executed when a motion frame is detected. You can use Conversion Specifiers and spaces as part of the command.

Command to be executed when an ffmpeg movie is closed at the end of an event. You can use Conversion Specifiers and spaces as part of the command. Use %f for passing filename (with full path) to the command., Command to be executed when an ffmpeg movie is closed at the end of an event. You can use Conversion Specifiers and spaces as part of the command. Use %f for passing filename (with full path) to the command.

Command to be executed when an mpeg movie is created. You can use Conversion Specifiers and spaces as part of the command. Use %f for passing filename (with full path) to the command., Command to be executed when an mpeg movie is created. You can use Conversion Specifiers and spaces as part of the command. Use %f for passing filename (with full path) to the command.

Command to be executed when an image is saved. You can use Conversion Specifiers and spaces as part of the command. Use %f for passing filename (with full path) to the command., Command to be executed when an image is saved. You can use Conversion Specifiers and spaces as part of the command. Use %f for passing filename (with full path) to the command.

Output pictures with only the moving object. This feature generates the special motion type movies where you only see the pixels that changes as a graytone image. If labelling is enabled you see the largest area in blue.

If a Smartmask is specified, it is shown in red., Output pictures with only the moving object. This feature generates the special motion type movies where you only see the pixels that changes as a graytone image. If labelling is enabled you see the largest area in blue.

Normal image is an image that is stored when motion is detected. It is the same image that was taken by the camera. I.e. not a motion image like defined by output_motion. Default is that normal images are stored., Normal image is an image that is stored when motion is detected. It is the same image that was taken by the camera. I.e. not a motion image like defined by output_motion. Default is that normal images are stored.

File path for motion triggered images (jpeg or ppm) relative to target_dir. Value 'preview' makes a jpeg filename with the same name body as the associated saved mpeg movie file., File path for motion triggered images (jpeg or ppm) relative to target_dir. Value 'preview' makes a jpeg filename with the same name body as the associated saved mpeg movie file.

This option allows the user to specify the power line frequency that is applicable to the user. This option can help stabilize the images of some webcams that are sensitive to this frequency. This is not normally necessary., This option allows the user to specify the power line frequency that is applicable to the user. This option can help stabilize the images of some webcams that are sensitive to this frequency. This is not normally necessary.

Specifies the number of previous frames to be outputted at motion detection. Recommended range: 0 to 5, default=0. Do not use large values! Large values will cause Motion to skip video frames and cause unsmooth mpegs. To smooth mpegs use larger values of post_capture instead., Specifies the number of previous frames to be outputted at motion detection. Recommended range: 0 to 5, default=0. Do not use large values! Large values will cause Motion to skip video frames and cause unsmooth mpegs. To smooth mpegs use larger values of post_capture instead.

File to store the process ID, also called pid file. Recommended value when used: /var/run/motion.pid, File to store the process ID, also called pid file. Recommended value when used: /var/run/motion.pid

Rotate image the given number of degrees. The rotation affects all saved images as well as mpeg movies., Rotate image the given number of degrees. The rotation affects all saved images as well as mpeg movies.

Specifies the number of frames to capture before switching inputs, this way also slow switching (e.g. every second) is possible., Specifies the number of frames to capture before switching inputs, this way also slow switching (e.g. every second) is possible.

Specifies the number of frames to skip after a switch. (1 if you are feeling lucky, 2 if you want to be safe)., Specifies the number of frames to skip after a switch. (1 if you are feeling lucky, 2 if you want to be safe).

This option specifies the transport method for rtsp cameras. The TCP transport is highly preferred because without this option the rtsp images are frequently corrupted and result in many false positive values and images that appear to be smeared. Off indicates that UDP will be used., This option specifies the transport method for rtsp cameras. The TCP transport is highly preferred because without this option the rtsp images are frequently corrupted and result in many false positive values and images that appear to be smeared. Off indicates that UDP will be used.

The SDL option is optional and unusual. When SDL is included in the building of Motion, there is the ability for Motion to create a SDL preview window for the user. The author believes this option to be more of a proof of concept on how to create a SDL window and show the image. (This same functionality can be achieved via the stream options) To activate the SDL window, include SDL support in the building of the Motion application. Start Motion and note the thread number indicated. Once that is noted, specify that thread number (or 1 more than that number) for this option. When Motion is started again, it will then create a SDL window to preview the image. To close the window, press X. Author is not aware of any method to restart the SDL window after it has been closed. , The SDL option is optional and unusual. When SDL is included in the building of Motion, there is the ability for Motion to create a SDL preview window for the user. The author believes this option to be more of a proof of concept on how to create a SDL window and show the image. (This same functionality can be achieved via the stream options) To activate the SDL window, include SDL support in the building of the Motion application. Start Motion and note the thread number indicated. Once that is noted, specify that thread number (or 1 more than that number) for this option. When Motion is started again, it will then create a SDL window to preview the image. To close the window, press X. Author is not aware of any method to restart the SDL window after it has been closed.

SQL query string that is sent to the database. The values for each field are given by using convertion specifiers, SQL query string that is sent to the database. The values for each field are given by using convertion specifiers

Limit the number of frames to number frames. After 'stream_limit' number of frames the connection will be closed by motion. The value 0 means unlimited., Limit the number of frames to number frames. After 'stream_limit' number of frames the connection will be closed by motion. The value 0 means unlimited.

Limit the framerate of the webcam in frames per second. Default is 1. Set the value to 100 for practically unlimited., Limit the framerate of the webcam in frames per second. Default is 1. Set the value to 100 for practically unlimited.

If set to 'on' Motion sends slows down the webcam stream to 1 picture per second when no motion is detected. When motion is detected the stream runs as defined by stream_maxrate. When 'off' the webcam stream always runs as defined by stream_maxrate., If set to 'on' Motion sends slows down the webcam stream to 1 picture per second when no motion is detected. When motion is detected the stream runs as defined by stream_maxrate. When 'off' the webcam stream always runs as defined by stream_maxrate.

If the webcontrol page has HTML enabled, Motion displays all of the streams on the home webcontrol page in HTML format so that all the images can be viewed by standard browsers. This parameter determines whether the image is placed on a new line in the webcontrol web page. , If the webcontrol page has HTML enabled, Motion displays all of the streams on the home webcontrol page in HTML format so that all the images can be viewed by standard browsers. This parameter determines whether the image is placed on a new line in the webcontrol web page.

If the webcontrol page has HTML enabled, Motion displays all of the streams on the home webcontrol page in HTML format so that all the images can be viewed by standard browsers. This parameter indicates the percentage to scale the stream image when it is placed on the page. Numbers greater than 100 are permitted., If the webcontrol page has HTML enabled, Motion displays all of the streams on the home webcontrol page in HTML format so that all the images can be viewed by standard browsers. This parameter indicates the percentage to scale the stream image when it is placed on the page. Numbers greater than 100 are permitted.

Quality setting in percent for the mjpeg picture frames transferred over the webcam connection. Keep it low to restrict needed bandwidth., Quality setting in percent for the mjpeg picture frames transferred over the webcam connection. Keep it low to restrict needed bandwidth.

Turns the switch filter on or off. The filter can distinguish between most switching noise and real motion. With this you can even set roundrobin_skip to 1 without generating much false detection., Turns the switch filter on or off. The filter can distinguish between most switching noise and real motion. With this you can even set roundrobin_skip to 1 without generating much false detection.

This option defines the value of the speciel event conversion specifier %C. You can use any conversion specifier in this option except %C. Date and time values are from the timestamp of the first image in the current event., This option defines the value of the speciel event conversion specifier %C. You can use any conversion specifier in this option except %C. Date and time values are from the timestamp of the first image in the current event.

Specifies full path and filename for a thread config file. Each camera needs a thread config file containing the options that are unique to the camera. If you only have one camera you do not need thread config files. If you have two or more cameras you need one thread config file for each camera in addition to motion.conf. This option must be placed in motion.conf and not in a thread config file., Specifies full path and filename for a thread config file. Each camera needs a thread config file containing the options that are unique to the camera. If you only have one camera you do not need thread config files. If you have two or more cameras you need one thread config file for each camera in addition to motion.conf. This option must be placed in motion.conf and not in a thread config file.

Threshold for declaring motion. The threshold is the number of changed pixels counted after noise filtering, masking, despeckle, and labelling., Threshold for declaring motion. The threshold is the number of changed pixels counted after noise filtering, masking, despeckle, and labelling.

Use this option if you have an iomojo smilecam connected to the serial port instead of a general stepper motor controller., Use this option if you have an iomojo smilecam connected to the serial port instead of a general stepper motor controller.

Delay during which tracking is disabled after auto tracking has moved the camera. Delay is defined as number of picture frames., Delay during which tracking is disabled after auto tracking has moved the camera. Delay is defined as number of picture frames.

Angle in degrees the camera moves per step on the X-axis with auto tracking. Currently only used with pwc type cameras., Angle in degrees the camera moves per step on the X-axis with auto tracking. Currently only used with pwc type cameras.

Angle in degrees the camera moves per step on the Y-axis with auto tracking. Currently only used with pwc type cameras., Angle in degrees the camera moves per step on the Y-axis with auto tracking. Currently only used with pwc type cameras.

The tuner device used for controlling the tuner in a tuner card. This option is only used when Motion is compiled for FreeBSD., The tuner device used for controlling the tuner in a tuner card. This option is only used when Motion is compiled for FreeBSD.

The v4l2_palette allows the user to choose preferable palette to be use by Motion. Note that this is only the preferred option. If the video device does not support the requested format, Motion will loop through the available palettes to try to find one that is supported by both Motion and the device. Motion will report the supported palettes of the device when Motion starts when the log_level is specified as NTC or higher. The default of 17 is highly preferred since this the native format that Motion uses internally. , The v4l2_palette allows the user to choose preferable palette to be use by Motion. Note that this is only the preferred option. If the video device does not support the requested format, Motion will loop through the available palettes to try to find one that is supported by both Motion and the device. Motion will report the supported palettes of the device when Motion starts when the log_level is specified as NTC or higher. The default of 17 is highly preferred since this the native format that Motion uses internally.

The video4linux video loopback input device for normal images. If a particular pipe is to be used then use the device filename of this pipe. If a dash '-' is given motion will use /proc/video/vloopback/vloopbacks to locate a free pipe., The video4linux video loopback input device for normal images. If a particular pipe is to be used then use the device filename of this pipe. If a dash '-' is given motion will use /proc/video/vloopback/vloopbacks to locate a free pipe.

The video device to be used for capturing. Default for Linux is /dev/video0. for FreeBSD the default is /dev/bktr0., The video device to be used for capturing. Default for Linux is /dev/video0. for FreeBSD the default is /dev/bktr0.

To protect HTTP Control by username and password, use this option for HTTP 1.1 Basic authentication. The string is specified as username:password. Do not specify this option for no authentication. This option must be placed in motion.conf and not in a thread config file., To protect HTTP Control by username and password, use this option for HTTP 1.1 Basic authentication. The string is specified as username:password. Do not specify this option for no authentication. This option must be placed in motion.conf and not in a thread config file.

Enable HTML in the answer sent back to a browser connecting to the control_port. This option must be placed in motion.conf and not in a thread config file., Enable HTML in the answer sent back to a browser connecting to the control_port. This option must be placed in motion.conf and not in a thread config file.

Limits the http (html) control to the localhost. This option must be placed in motion.conf and not in a thread config file., Limits the http (html) control to the localhost. This option must be placed in motion.conf and not in a thread config file.

Sets the port number for the http (html using browser) based remote control. This option must be placed in motion.conf and not in a thread config file., Sets the port number for the http (html using browser) based remote control. This option must be placed in motion.conf and not in a thread config file.

Obsolete Options

To protect HTTP Control by username and password, use this option for HTTP 1.1 Basic authentication. The string is specified as username:password. Do not specify this option for no authentication. This option must be placed in motion.conf and not in a thread config file.

Enable HTML in the answer sent back to a browser connecting to the control_port. This option must be placed in motion.conf and not in a thread config file.Note: This option has been renamed to webcontrol_html_output.

When this option is not zero motion will be in a low cpu mode while not detecting motion. In low cpu mode Motion reduces the framerate to the value given for this option. Value zero means disabled. ( DEPRECATED )

When this option is set the noise threshold will be lowered if the picture is dark. This will improve the sensitivity in dark places. However it might also increase the number of false alarms since most cameras also increase light sensitivity with their AGC (Automatic Gain Control) and this will increase noise. ( DEPRECATED )

Output pictures with only the moving object. This feature generates the special motion type movies where you only see the pixels that changes as a graytone image. If labelling is enabled you see the largest area in blue. Smartmask is shown in red.

Normal image is an image that is stored when motion is detected. It is the same image that was taken by the camera. I.e. not a motion image like defined by output_motion. Default is that normal images are stored.

If set to 'on' Motion sends slows down the webcam stream to 1 picture per second when no motion is detected. When motion is detected the stream runs as defined by webcam_maxrate. When 'off' the webcam stream always runs as defined by webcam_maxrate.

A signal can be sent from the command line by typing e.g. kill -s SIGHUP pid, where the last parameter is the process ID which you get by typing ps -ef ¦ grep motion. The PID is the first on the list which is the parent process for the threads.
Motion responds to the following signals:

Motion Guide - Basic Features

Before you can start using motion you need to know some basics about your camera.
Either you have a camera connected directly to your computer. In this case it is a video4linux type of camera. Or you connect to a network camera using a normal web URL.

You need to install your camera with the right driver. It is out of scope of this document to tell you how to do this and it depends on which type of camera.

Once installed the camera(s) will have the device names /dev/video0, /dev/video1, /dev/video2...

FreeBSD has a different naming of devices. When you build Motion for FreeBSD the default device name is /dev/bktr0. Under FreeBSD a TV card has a special device for controlling the tuner (e.g. /dev/tuner0). The option tunerdevice is only valid when Motion is built and running under FreeBSD. For Linux do not include this option in the config file (remove or comment out).

USB cameras take a lot of bandwidth. A USB camera connected to a USB 1.1 port or hub consumes all the bandwidth. Even with a small framesize and low framerate you should not expect to have more than one camera per USB 1.1 controller. If you need more than 1 USB camera add extra USB PCI cards to your computer. There exists cards that have 4 inputs each with their own controller and with full bandwidth. Many 4-input cards only have 1 controller. USB cameras do not have the feature of selecting input channels. To disable the input selection the option input must be set to the value 8 for USB cameras.

Composite video cards are normally made with a chip called BT878 (older cards have a BT848). They all use the Linux driver called 'bttv'.

There are cards with more then one video input but still only one BT878 chip. They have a video multiplexer which input is selected with the config option input. Input channel numbers start at 0 (which is why the value 8 and not 0 disables input selection). There are video capture cards available with 4 or 8 inputs but only one chip. They present themselves as one single video device and you select input using the 'input' option. If you define e.g. 4 thread config files with the same videodevice name but different input numbers Motion automatically goes into round robin mode. See the round robin section for more information. Many TV tuner cards have the input channels: TV Tuner = 0, Standard composite video = 1, S-VHS = 3. Other have TV=0, composite video 1= 1, composite video = 2, S-VHS = 3. For video capture cards input 1 is normally the composite video input.

Some capture cards are specially made for surveillance with for example 4 inputs. Others have a TV tuner, a composite input (phono socket) and perhaps also a S-VHS input. For all these cards the inputs are numbered. The numbering varies from card to card so the easiest is to experiment for 5 minutes with a program that can show the videostream. Use a program such as Camstream or xawtv to experiment with the values.

If you use the TV tuner input you also need to set the frequency of the TV channel using the option frequency. Otherwise set 'frequency' to 0.

Finally you need to set the TV norm. Values: 0 (PAL), 1 (NTSC), 2 (SECAM), 3 (PAL NC no colour). Default is 0 (PAL). If your camera is a PAL black and white you may get a better result with norm=3 (PAL no colour).

If the netcam_url option is defined all the video4linux options are ignored so make sure the netcam_url option is commented out if you do not need it.

These are the parameters used for video4linux devices

Network Cameras

Motion can connect to a network camera through a normal TCP socket. All you need to give it is the URL. The URL given must return either one single jpeg picture or an mjpeg stream. For the time being Motion cannot connect to a video stream such a mpeg, mpeg4, divx. The URL must return one single jpeg image or an mjpeg stream! You can connect through a proxy server.

Also watch out that you do not use a URL that create an HTML page with an embedded jpg. What must be returned is the jpg picture itself or the raw mjpeg stream.

When the netcam_url is defined all the video4linux options above are ignored!!

If the connection to a network camera is lost - Motion will reuse the last good image for approx 30 seconds. AFter 30 seconds the image is replaced by a grey image with a text telling that the signal is lost and when the connection was lost. This text and its date format is not configurable and there are no plans to make it configurable in order to keep the number config options under control.

Note that Motion requires that dimensions of camera image must have both height and width that are a multiple of 16. Thís is normally not a problem. All standard sizes like 640, 480, 352, 320, 288, 240, ...etc are multiples of 16. But if you intend to monitor a network camera which is saving jpeg images you may have to pay attention to the dimensions of the picture.

The network camera feature has been completely re-written in Motion 3.2.2. We believe the netcam feature is much more stable now that it was in previous versions. Motion tries to reconnect to the camera if the connection is lost. There is no official standard for mjpeg and we know that there are probably still some cameras that are not yet supported. If you run into a problem please file a Bug Report with as much information about the format as possible. A binary raw dump of the first 2-3 frames with headers and boundary strings is very useful. You can see how to make it on the special topic NetcamMjpegStreamDumps. When you have the file you can upload it to the same topic.

Round Robin feature

This feature is automatically activated where multiple threads are sharing the same video device (for example /dev/video0). Each thread can then set different input channels to change camera with the input option or by tuning the tuner with frequency option.

Round Robin is not relevant for Network cameras or standard USB web cameras. The Round Robin feature is used with video capture cards which have multiple inputs per video chip.

Note that round robin is not the ideal way to run multiple cameras. When the capture card changes input it takes a little while before the decoder chip has syncronized to the new camera. You can improve this if you have expensive cameras with a syncronize input. Only one camera can be decoded at a time so if you have 4 cameras connected 3 of the camera threads will need to wait for their turn. The fact that cameras have to take turns and the fact that you have to skip a few frames after each turn dramatically lowers the possible framerate. You can get a high framerate by viewing each camera for a long time. But then you may miss the action on one of the inactive cameras. If you can affort it avoid Round Robin and buy the more expensive type of capture cards that has one decoder chip per input. If you only need 2 or 3 cameras you can also simply put 2 or 3 cheap TV cards in the computer. Linux has no problem working with multiple TV cards.

If multiple threads use the same video device, they each can capture roundrobin_frames number of frames before having to share the device with the other threads.

When another thread wants to watch another input or frequency or size the first roundrobin_skip number of frames are skipped to allow the device to settle.

The last option switch_filter is supposed to prevent the change of camera from being detected as Motion. Its function is not perfect and sometimes prevents detection of real motion. You should start with having the option disabled and then try with the option enabled to see if you can skip less frames without loosing the detection of the type of motion you normally want to detect.

Motion 3.2 introduces a new feature Setup Mode. This is a great new feature with really make tuning all the settings of Motion much more easy and transparent. In setup mode two things happen:

With 'motion -s' Motion runs in console mode instead of daemon. It outputs a lot of useful information for each frame from the camera. Each message is prefixed by [number] where number is the camera number (thread number).

When you look at the mjpeg webcam stream you see a black image with numbers. What you see is the number of changed pixels, number of labeled areas and noise setting. When something moves you see the pixels detected as Motion in black and white. The largest labelled area (assuming despeckle is enabled and with the 'l' at the end) is blue. It is only the blue areas which is counted as Motion. If smartmask is enabled you see this as red areas.

Here is a suggestion how to initially setup Motion.

Disable despeckle (comment it out in motion.conf).

Disable smartmask

Enable both http control and webcam by setting port numbers. Example 8080 for control and 8081 for webcam.

Start Motion in setup mode

View the webcam stream. Either with Cambozola or with Firefox. http://localhost:8081/ Firefox often needs to reload the page before it works. Bug in Firefox. Internet Explorer cannot show the stream unless you make a webpage on your Apache with Cambozola applet.

Open new browser window and connect to the http interface. http://localhost:8080/ . You can now control and change almost anything while Motion is running. You cannot resize the image. That was too hard to code. To disable a feature enter a space.

Start by experimenting with noise level. Do this both during daylight and during darkness. You will be surprised to see how much noise a camera makes during night. Try using the automatic noise feature. It should work for most.

Now try the despeckle feature. Enable it using the recommended default EedDl. If this is not enough experiment. Remember that the l must be the last letter. It is fun to play with.

Set the threshold to what you want to trigger Motion.

In normal mode you can use the same setting with two browser windows and experiment with settings of the camera if needed.

From the web interface you can ask Motion to write all your changes back to the config files (motion.conf and thread config files). It will even tidy them up for you so they look nice.

Motion type picture frame with despeckle. Note that the largest area is blue and only this is counted as Motion.

The Motion image shows how Motion maintains a "reference frame" which is not just the last picture frame but a matematical calculation of the past images. This enlarges real Motion and ensures that it is not easy to sneak in slowly.

The ffmpeg option can generate mpeg films very fast and "on the fly". This means that the mpeg film is growing each time motion is detected.

Some people on the Motion mailing list have had trouble building the ffmpeg package because they did not have the NASM assembler package installed. So pay attention to this if you run into problems.

ffmpeg exists as binary packages for most distributions including RPMs and debian packages.

Ffmpeg is an interesting project. The releases have not been very consistent over time. The official releases are out of date now. So we are forced to take our chance and checkout a version from their CVS server and hope that we are lucky in getting a version that works. See ffmpeg project page. We encourage the maintaners of such an important project to introduce better release schedules in the near future for the benefit of opensource software.

In order to help people finding a version of ffmpeg that works we have started testing the Motion package with a selection of binaries and a CVS snapshot. The CVS source snapshot of ffmpeg which is certified with Motion is available on the Related projects file area on the Motion Sourceforge project

Motion works with the following versions of ffmpeg:

ffmpeg-0.4.8. With this release Motion supports mpeg1, mpeg4 and msmpeg4. Lately newer distributions have problems building this 2003 release of ffmpeg so many of you no longer have this option.

ffmpeg-0.4.9pre1. Is supported starting from Motion version 3.1.18. With this release Motion supports mpeg4 and msmpeg4 but not mpeg1. The reason is that the ffmpeg team has decided no longer to support non-standard framerates in their mpeg1 encoder library. Also ffmpeg-0.4.9pre1 gives people problems on newer distributions.

ffmpeg from CVS. This may work. We cannot continuously monitor and try every time a new source file is checked into ffmpeg. You will have to try.

ffmpeg RPMs. Currently each Motion release is tested with the current Livna ffmpeg rpm package for Fedora. See the Download Files page for direct links to the version which has been certified with the latest Motion release.

ffmpeg debian binaries. Latest versions from the debian repository for Debian Sarge works fine with Motion.

The timelapse feature always runs mpeg1 with both ffmpeg 0.4.8 and 0.4.9 and newer. Motion simply creates the timelapse film with a standard mpeg1 framerate. Note : maximum size for timelapse files is 2GB.

In principle Motion can be made to support many other formats. It requires additional coding in Motion. You are welcome to submit patches. All ffmpeg related code is in the source file ffmpeg.c. It is not trivial to do because the ffmpeg libraries not documented at all. All you have is a couple of code examples.

To build ffpmeg from source follow these steps:

Download the ffmpeg and untar it to /usr/local/ffmpeg. Then it should be a simple matter of entering the ffmpeg directory and run the commands

cd /usr/local/ffmpeg
./configure --enable-shared
make
make install

This creates the libavcodec.so and libavformat.so libraries under /usr/local/lib and header files under /usr/local/include/ffmpeg.

You probably need to do one more step.

Make sure you have 'root' privileges for the next steps.

Open the file /etc/ld.so.conf in your favorite text editor.

Add this line of text if it is not already there - otherwise go to the next step (ldconfig).

/usr/local/lib
Run the command ldconfig.

Motion should now be able to find the shared libraries for ffmpeg (libavcodec.so and libavformat.so) in /usr/local/lib.

You can also find a pre-compiled binary package (e.g. rpm or deb) and install this. Normally an rpm will place the libavcodec.so under /usr/lib.
There are various RPMs available from different repositories. Some need additional RPMs that are actually not needed by Motion but need to be installed to satisfy dependencies. The editor has tried different RPMs of ffmpeg-0.4.8 and they all seem to work.

Motion then need to be built by running ./configure, make and make install.
(Note that with earlier versions of motion you had to specify the location of libavcodec. Now configure searches for the shared library in /usr/lib and /usr/local/lib by default.)

Note that if you install ffmpeg from source and already have ffmpeg installed from an RPM, the Motion configure may very well find the binary library from the rpm instead of the sources. Make sure to uninstall any old ffmpeg RPMs before you install ffmpeg from sources.

These are the config file options related to ffmpeg.

This feature uses ffmpegs libavcodec to encode a timelapse movie saving a picture frame at the interval in seconds set by this parameter. Setting this option to 0 disables it.

The feature gives your viewer the chance to watch the day pass by. It makes a nice effect to film flowers etc closeup during the day. Options like frame_rate, snapshot, gap etc have no impact on the ffmpeg timelapse function.

Note that the timelapse format is always mpeg1 independent of ffmpeg_video_codec. This is because mpeg1 allows the timelapse to stop and the file to be reopened and more film appended.

Text features are highly flexible. You can taylor the text displayed on the images and films to your taste and you can add your own user defined text.

This is how the overlayed text is located.

CHANGES

TEXT_LEFT

TEXT_RIGHTYYYY-MM-DDHH:MM:SS

You are allowed to put the text in quotation marks. This allows you to use leading spaces. By combining spaces and new lines '\n' you can place your text anywhere on the picture. Experiment to find your preferred look. When setting the text using http remote control the text must be URL encoded. The browser does this for you. If you need to set it with a command line tool, use a browser first and let it make the encoded URL for you. Then you can copy paste it to your script file or cron line or whatever you want to use.

Below are the options that controls the display of text. The 'locate' option is not a text feature but described here because it is related to information overlayed on the output images.

The text_event feature is special in that it defines the conversion specifier %C which can be used both for text display and for filenames.

By using conversion specifiers (codes that consist of a '%' followed by a letter) you can build up the filenames including sub directories for pictures and movies using any combination of letters, numbers and conversion specifiers which are codes that represents time, date, event number and frame numbers.

The option target_dir is the target directory for all snapshots, motion images and normal images. The default is the current working directory (current working directory of the terminal from which motion was started). You will normally always want to specify this parameter.

Note that the options snapshot_filename, jpeg_filename, ffmpeg_filename, and timelapse_filename all allow specifying directories by using '/' in the filename. These will all be relative to target_dir. This means in principle that you can specify target_dir as '/' and be 100% flexible. It also means that Motion can write files all over your harddisk if you make a mistake. It is recommended to specify the target_dir as deep or detailed as possible for this reason. And note that targer_dir does not allow conversion specifiers.

The conversion specifier %C which is defined by the option text_event is interesting in connection with filenames because it can be used to create files and directories for each event in a very flexible way.

The convertion specifier %t (thread/camera number) is also very useful. Here is an example of filename definitions in motion.conf:

The smart thing is that this defines the filename of all your camera threads in motion.conf so you do not need to specify target dir and filenames in the thread config files. In the above example an mpegfile for camera thread 3 will be saved as a filename similar to /usr/local/webcam/cam3/28-20051128130840.avi

NOTE: Unless you use the minimum_gap option to limit the number of shots to less then one per second - you must use the frame modifier %q as part of the jpeg_filename. Otherwise the pictures saved within the same second will overwrite each other. The %q in jpeg_filename ensures that each jpeg (or ppm) picture saved gets a unique filename.

Security Warning! Note that the flexibility of this feature also means you have to pay attention to the following.

Anyone with access to the remote control port (http) can alter the values of these options and save files anywhere on your server with the same privileges as the user running Motion. Anyone can access your control port if you have not either limited access to localhost or limited access using firewalls in the server. You should always have a router between a machine running Motion with remote control enabled and the Internet and make sure the Motion control port is not accessible from the outside.

Anyone with local access to the computer and edit rights to the motion.conf file can alter the values of these options and save files anywhere on your server with the same privileges as the user running Motion. Make sure the motion.conf file is maximum readonly to anyone else but the user running Motion.

Threshold. The number of detected pixels required to trigger motion. When threshold_tune is 'on' this can be used to show the current tuned value of threshold.

%p

Either 'AM' or 'PM' according to the given time value, or the corresponding strings for the current locale. Noon is treated as `pm' and midnight as `am'.

%P

Like %p but in lowercase: `am' or `pm' or a corresponding string for the current locale.

%q

Picture frame number within current second. For jpeg filenames this should always be included in the filename if you save more then 1 picture per second to ensure unique filenames. It is not needed in filenames for mpegs.

%Q

Number of detected labels found by the despeckle feature

%r

The time in a.m. or p.m. notation.

%R

The time in 24-hour notation (%H:%M).

%s

The number of seconds since the Epoch, i.e., since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC.

%S

The second as a decimal number (range 00 to 61).

%t

Thread number (camera number)

%T

The time in 24-hour notation (%H:%M:%S).

%u

The day of the week as a decimal, range 1 to 7, Monday being 1. See also %w.

%U

The week number of the current year as a decimal number, range 00 to 53, starting with the first Sunday as the first day of week 01. See also %V and %W.

%v

Event number. An event is a series of motion detections happening with less than 'gap' seconds between them.

%V

The ISO 8601:1988 week number of the current year as a decimal number, range 01 to 53, where week 1 is the first week that has at least 4 days in the current year, and with Monday as the first day of the week. See also %U and %W.

%w

The day of the week as a decimal, range 0 to 6, Sunday being 0. See also %u.

%W

The week number of the current year as a decimal number, range 00 to 53, starting with the first Monday as the first day of week 01.

%x

The preferred date representation for the current locale without the time.

%X

The preferred time representation for the current locale without the date.

Motion has simple webcam server built in. The video stream is in mjpeg format.

Each thread can have its own webcam server. If you enable the webcam server (option webcam_port to a number different from 0) and you have more than one camera, you must make sure to include webcam_port in each thread config file and set webcam_port to different and unique port numbers or zero (disable). Otherwise each webcam server will use the setting from the motion.conf file and try to bind to the same port. If the webcam_port numbers are not different from each other Motion will disable the webcam feature.

Note: The webcam server feature requires that the option ppm is set to off.

The webcam_maxrate and webcam_quality options are important to limit the load on your server and link. Don't set them too high unless you only use it on the localhost or on an internal LAN. The option webcam_quality is equivalent to the quality level for jpeg pictures.

The webcam_limit option prevents people from loading your Network connection by streaming for hours and hours. The options defines the number of picture frames sent as mjpeg Motion will allow without re-connecting (e.g. clicking refresh in the browser).

The option webcam_localhost is a security feature. When enabled you can only access the webserver on the same machine as Motion is running on. If you want to present a live webcam on your web site this feature must be disabled.

The webserver generates a stream in "multipart jpeg" format (mjpeg). You cannot watch the stream with most browsers. Only certain versions of Netscape works. Mozilla and Firefox brosers can view the mjpeg stream but you often have to refresh the page once to get the streaming going. Internet Explorer cannot show the mjpeg stream. For public viewing this is not very useful. There exists a java applet called Cambozola which enabled any Java capable browser to show the stream. To enable the feature to a broad audience you should use this applet or similar.

Motion can be remote controlled via a simple http interface. http is the language a normal web browser talks when it requests a web page. The web server answers back with some simple http headers followed by a webpage coded in HTML.

Most Motion config options can be changed while Motion is running except options related to the size of the captured images and mask files which are loaded only when Motion starts. So only your fantasy sets the limit to what you can change combining cron and the remote control interface for Motion.

So the most obvious tool to use to remote control Motion is any web browser. All commands are sent using the http GET method which simply means that the information is sent via the URL and maybe a query string. You can use any browser (Firefox, Mozilla, Internet Explorer, Konquerer, Opera etc). You can also use the text based browser lynx to control Motion from a console. It navigates fine through the very simple and minimalistic http control interface of Motion.

The details about how to control Motion via the URL is described in detail in the Motion http API topic.

But it is probably simpler to connect to the control port with a browser, navigate to the function you want, and copy the URL from the browser URL entry line. If your control_port is 8080 and you browse from the same machine on which Motion runs simply look up http://localhost:8080/ and navigate around. Connecting from a remote machine is done by using a domain name (example http://mydomain.com:8080/) or the IP address of the machine (example http://192.168.1.4:8080/). The option control_localhost must be off to allow connection from a remote machine.

If you want to use a script or cron to automatically change Motion settings while Motion runs you use a program that can fetch a webpage. We simply just throw away the html page that Motion returns. Programs commonly available on Linux machines are wget and lwp-request. Here is an example of how to start and stop motion detection via cron. These two lines are added to /etc/crontab.

If you want to use the http remote control from your own software (for example your own PHP front end) you can set the new motion.conf option html_output off. Then Motion answers back with very basic text only and no html around it. A bit like the xmlrpc interface did.

To remote control Motion from a web pages you can for example use PHP. In PHP it takes this simple code line to send a remote commend to Motion. Here we pause motion detection for camera 2

readfile('http://localhost:8080/2/detection/pause');

What happened to XMLRPC?

XMLRPC is replaced by a simpler http remote control interface. It is still being worked on but it is absolutely useable now and much nicer to work with than xmlrpc. Another advantage is that you do not need to install xmlrpc libraries. It is all written in standard C.

Security Warning! Note that this feature also means you have to pay attention to the following.

Anyone with access to the remote control port (http) can alter the values of any options and save files anywhere on your server with the same privileges as the user running Motion. They can execute any command on your computer with the same privileges as the user running Motion. Anyone can access your control port if you have not either limited access to localhost or limited access using firewalls in the server. You should always have a router between a machine running Motion with remote control enabled and the Internet and make sure the Motion control port is not accessible from the outside.

If you limit control port to localhost you still need to take care of any user logging into the server with any kind of terminal session.

Mail and sms has been removed because they were not configurable. If you want to send event-based mails or sms, just use one of those commands above and send the mail from that script. See What happened to mail and sms?

Security Warning! Note that this feature also means you have to pay attention to the following.

Anyone with access to the remote control port (http) can execute any command on your computer with the same privileges as the user running Motion. Anyone can access your control port if you have not either limited access to localhost or limited access using firewalls in the server. You should always have a router between a machine running Motion with remote control enabled and the Internet and make sure the Motion control port is not accessible from the outside.

If you limit control port to localhost you still need to take care of any user logging into the server with any kind of GUI or terminal session. All it takes is a browser or single command line execution to change settings in Motion.

It is a good idea to run Motion as a harmless user. Not as root!!

These are the options

What happened to mail and sms?

The 6 new on_xxxxx options replace the former execute, mail and sms options.

They are quite generic and flexible. These small bash scripts gives to the same functionality as mail and sms BUT you have all the flexibility you want to extend the messages, change the 'from' email address etc.

Sending SMS at start of event

If you uncomment the line #/usr/local/bin/send_mail $1 you can combine both sending email and sms.

#!/bin/sh
# Motion sample script to send an sms at start of an event.
# Replaces the former 'sms' option.
# Just define this script as 'on_event_start'-script in motion.conf like that:
# on_event_start send_sms "%Y-%m-%d %T"
#
# If you want to send an e-mail message here as well, just uncomment the last
# line of this script.
#change to suit your needs:
#location of 'sms-client' binary
SMS_CLIENT="/usr/bin/sms_client"
#Destination sms number
TO="12345"
#Don't change anything below this line
$SMS_CLIENT $TO "Motion detected $1"
#/usr/local/bin/send_mail $1

Motion Guide - Special Features

This is still at the experimental stage. Read more about it motion tracking page.

Tracking Feature with Logitech Quickcam Sphere/Orbit

Motion supports controlling the pan and tilt feature of a Logitech Quickcam Sphere/Orbit.

Motion can move the camera to a fixed position given in degrees pan (left-right) and tilt (down-up). Movement can be set with absolute coordinates or relative to current position. There is also an auto tracking feature for the Logitech Quickcam Sphere/Orbit but it is not very mature. It is fun to play with but not very useful yet. See this topic of how KennethLavrsen controls his Sphere: LogitechSphereControl.

List of tracking options
Requires a tracking camera type supported by Motion.
Only used for iomojo camera.
Only used for stepper motor tracking.
Only used for stepper motor tracking.
Only used for stepper motor tracking.
Only used for stepper motor tracking.
The actual delay is depending on the chosen framerate. If you want the camera to move maximum once every 2 seconds and the framerate is 10 then you need to set the track_move_wait value to 2 * 10 = 20
Only used for stepper motor tracking.
Only used for stepper motor tracking.
Requires a tracking camera type pwc
Requires a tracking camera type pwc
Only used for stepper motor tracking.
Motion has special tracking options which use either a serial stepper motor controller, an iomojo smile cam or a Philips WebCam driver compatible pan/tilt camera such as the Logitech Quickcam Sphere or Orbit.

To disable tracking, set this to 0 and the other track options are ignored.

Value 1 is for the special Motion Tracking project using a stepper motor and a home made controller.

Value 2 is for the iomojo smilecam

Value 3 is for pwc type USB tracking cameras such as the Logitech Quickcam Sphere/Orbit which is driven by the pwc (Philips WebCam) driver. To use this camera your version of pwc must be at least 8.12.

Value 4 is the generic track type. Currently it has no other function than enabling some of the internal Motion features related to tracking. Eventually more functionality will be implemented for this type.

Value 5 is for uvcvideo type USB tracking cameras such as the Logitech Quickcam Sphere/Orbit MP (new Model) which is driven by the uvcvideo driver. This option was added in Motion 3.2.8.

Motion can be compiled with both MySQL and PostgreSQL database support. When enabled Motion adds a record to a table in the database as specified by the sql_query. The query contains the fields that are used and the value are given by using conversion specifiers for dynamic data like filename, time, number of detected pixels etc. Motion does not place any binary images in the database and it cannot remove old records.

Motion only adds records to the database when files are created. The database contains records of saved files which means to get a record in the database the feature that enables for example motion detection, timelapse, snapshots etc must be enabled. The sql_log options defines which types of files are logged in the database.

The following sql_log options are common to both MySQL and PostgreSQL.

See the "MySQL" section for detailed information about the database itself.

MySQL

You can use the MySQL database to register each file that is stored by motion.

You need to generate a new database with a name of your own choice. You must enter this name in the config file (mysql_db option). The default value for the option sql_query requires that you create a new database in MySQL with a new table called "security" with the following fields:

text_event (timestamp) - The text from the text_event option which by default is compatible with timestamps in SQL.

Note from version 3.2.4 the introduction of sql_query completely redefines the way you setup the SQL feature. It is now 100% flexible and can easily be made compatible with your existing Motion database from earlier versions of Motion.

These are the file type descriptions and the file type numbers stored in the database.

PostgreSQL

You can use this driver for looking at motion in realtime. The video4linux driver is written by the same author that first created Motion. You can find the source and a brief description at the video4linux loopback device web page.

The video4linux device is a Kernel module which installs itself as a video pipe. It has an input and an output. The module simply takes anything that comes on its input and send it out at the output. The purpose of this is to create a standard video4linux type video device that other programs can then use. You may now ask: "What do I need that for?".

Only one program can access a video device at a time. When motion is using a camera - no other program can access the same camera. But motion is made to be able to feed a video signal to the video loopback device. This way an additional program such as Camstream, Xawtv, a video stream server etc can watch the signal from a camera that motion uses already. What you see is not the live camera stream but the exact same picture that motion uses for detecting motion and the same pictures that are saved/streamed. You can also choose to see the "motion" type images where you see the pixels that are changing - live. Originally the video4linux pipe was used as an interface between Motion and a Webcam server. Since version 2.9 Motion has had its own webserver so this usage is no longer very relevant.

When you install the video loopback device it will create an input - for example /dev/video5 and an output - for example /dev/video6. You can then tell motion to "pipe" the video signal to the /dev/video5 and look at the pictures live using e.g. Camstream on /dev/video6. Camstream is "fooled" to think it is looking at a real camera.

Installing

Installing the video loopback device is not difficult. At least not when you have this document available.

First you must prepare your system for more video devices. You will need two extra devices for each video pipe that you want.

For example if you have 4 cameras they will probably run at /dev/video0, /dev/video1, /dev/video2, and /dev/video3. So you will need additional 8 video devices. This is easy to do.

Untar and uncompress the file to the place you want the program installed. Editor recommends /usr/local/vloopback.

cd /usr/local

tar -xvzf /path/to/vloopback-1.1-rc1.tar.gz

You now have a directory called vloopback-1.1-rc1. You can rename it to vloopback (mv vloopback-1.1-rc1 vloopback). I recommend creating a symbolic link to the current version. This way you can more easily experiment with different versions simply by changing the link.

ln -s vloopback-1.1-rc1 vloopback

Now change to the new directory

cd vloopback

Build the code

make

There is a good chance that the make will not work and give you a long list of errors. To run make the following must be available on you machine.

The kernel source files must be installed.

The source files must be available at /usr/src/linux.E.g. the new Red Hat 7.3 does not have a link to the sources called linux. Instead there is a link called linux-2.4. This is easy to fix. Just create a link to the real source tree. Do not rename! Add a link using this command (replacing the kernel version number with the one you have on your machine)ln -s /usr/src/linux-2.4.18-4 /usr/src/linux

Alternatively you can change the vloopback makefile so that the "LINUXSRC=/usr/src/linux" line is changed to the actual path. I recommend the link solution since this may solve other similar problems that you can get when installing other software.

When compiling on a newer Linux distribution you may get a warning about a header file malloc.h. To remove this warning simply change the header reference as suggested by the warning.

In vloopback.c you replace the line

#include <linux/malloc.h>

with the line

#include <linux/slab.h>

Install the code you built as a Kernel module. There are two options: pipes should be set to the number of video loopbacks that you want. Probably one for each camera. The dev_offset defines which video device number will be the first. If dev_offset is not defined the vloopback module will install itself from the first available video device. If you want the cameras to be assigned to the lower video device numbers you must either load vloopback after loading the video device modules OR use the dev_offset option when loading vloopback. Vloopback then installs itself in the sequence input 0, output 0, input 1, output 1, input 2, output 2 etc. Here is shown the command for our example of 4 cameras and 4 loopback devices and the first loopback device offset to /dev/video4.

/sbin/insmod /usr/local/vloopback/vloopback.o pipes=4 dev_offset=4

When you run the command you may get a warning about tainting the Kernel. Just ignore this.
You can choose to copy the vloopback.o file into a directory in the /lib/modules tree where the insmod/modprobe programs are already looking for modules. Then the command gets simpler (/sbin/insmod vloopback pipes=.....).

If you want the loopback device to load during boot, you can place the call in one of the bootup scripts such as /etc/rc.d/rc.local. Vloopback should be loaded before you start motion.

To activate the vloopback device in motion set the 'video_pipe' option in the motion.conf file. You can also view the special motion pictures where you see the changed pixels by setting the option 'motion_video_pipe' in motion.conf. When setting the video_pipe and/or motion_video_pipe options either specify the input device as e.g. /dev/video4. You can also set the parameter to '-' which means that motion will find the first vacant video loopback device input. If you have more than one camera you may want to control which loopback device each thread uses. Then you need to define the specific device name in motion.conf for the first camera and in each thread config file for the other cameras. If you set the video_pipe parameter to '-' in the motion.conf file and not setting it in the thread config files, motion automatically assign video devices in the same sequence as the threads are loaded. You can combine both video_pipe and motion_video_pipe but then naturally you will need twice as many pipes.

De-activating should be done with this command

/sbin/modprobe -r vloopback

Description of the motion.conf options related to video loopback device.